Clinical Utility of Qualitative Elastography Using Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse for Differentiating Benign from Malignant Salivary Gland Tumors

• Main Authors: Donishi, R. (Author), Fujiwara, K. (Author), Fukuhara, T. (Author), Koyama, S. (Author), Matsuda, E. (Author), Morisaki, T. (Author), Taira, K. (Author), Takeuchi, H. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc. 2021
• Subjects: Acoustic emissions; Acoustic radiation force impulse; Acoustic radiation Force Impulse; acoustic radiation force impulse imaging; Acoustic radiation force impulse imaging; Acoustic radiators; Acoustic wave propagation; Acoustic wave transmission; Adenolymphoma; Adenoma, Pleomorphic; adult; aged; Aged; Article; basal cell adenoma; cancer grading; clinical effectiveness; clinical feature; Clinical utility; cystadenoma; Diagnosis; Diagnosis, Differential; diagnostic accuracy; diagnostic imaging; diagnostic test accuracy study; differential diagnosis; Elasticity Imaging Techniques; elastography; Elastography; epithelial myoepithelial carcinoma; female; Female; High sensitivity; human; Humans; large cell undifferentiated carcinoma; lymphoma; major clinical study; male; Male; Malignant salivary gland; Malignant tumors; Medical imaging; middle aged; Middle Aged; mouth squamous cell carcinoma; mucoepidermoid tumor; myoepithelioma; oncocytoma; Parotid; pathology; pleomorphic adenoma; priority journal; procedures; Retrospective Studies; retrospective study; salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma; salivary duct carcinoma; salivary gland cancer; salivary gland carcinoma; Salivary Gland Neoplasms; salivary gland tumor; Salivary gland tumor; Salivary glands; Scoring systems; sensitivity and specificity; Sensitivity and Specificity; Submandibular; tumor volume; Tumors; Ultrasonography; Warthin tumor
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 The goal of the work described here was to evaluate the utility of acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging, a novel elastography technique, for differentiating benign from malignant salivary gland tumors. With the use of conventional strain elastography (SE) and ARFI imaging with a four-pattern scoring system, 185 tumors were examined (163 benign/22 malignant). When a score of ≥3 was used to define malignancy, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were higher for ARFI imaging (77.3%, 63.8% and 65.4%, respectively) than for conventional SE (54.5%, 56.4% and 56.2%, respectively). ARFI imaging findings revealed that most (92%) Warthin tumors, but only 24% of pleomorphic adenomas, were benign (score: 1 or 2). Attenuation of acoustic push pulses made it difficult to determine the stiffness of malignant tumors in the deep parotid lobes. Thus, ARFI imaging is a useful tool for screening Warthin tumors and exhibits high sensitivity for malignant tumors of salivary glands, other than deep parotid lobe tumors. © 2020 The Authors